Contador has been stripped of his 2010 Tour title, a result he took with the Astana team, but also the victories he clocked up with Riis’ squad last year, including the 2011 Giro d’Italia. As a result of that, the team will lose approximately two thirds of its points and is in theory in danger of being relegated from the UCI WorldTour.

“After what has been a very tough situation for our team, today we have finally received the result of the CAS hearing in the case regarding Alberto Contador,” said Riis in a team statement.

“The result was obviously not what we had hoped for, but for now our management team is still in the process of reviewing the ruling and the documentation so we can better understand the decision.”

Contador and the Saxo Bank team will hold a press conference at 7.30 tomorrow evening in Pinto, Spain, Contador’s hometown. They will give further reactions then.

Meanwhile the World Anti Doping Agency has given its thumbs up to the news. It and the UCI were the two bodies who appealed Contador’s clearing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and today’s ruling deemed them successful in that action.

The agency referred to the decision as one which showed the process is ‘robust and thorough.’

“This is an appropriate decision from CAS which represents the effective nature of the World Anti-Doping Code,” said WADA President John Fahey. “It is regrettable there was some political interference at the first instance process from Spain which inevitably led to the appeal.

“As always, WADA will respect CAS decisions and continue to exercise its right to appeal at CAS any further case when it believes the Code has not been correctly followed.”